Sean Dean – Nominated Candidate for Division L Director
Toastmasters member since 2018
Education :
MEng Engineering Science from University of Oxford: 2005-09
Chartered Civil Engineer as of August 2020
Toastmasters offices held and terms of service:
Society Speakers VPE: Aug 2018/19, 20/21 & 21/22
Society Speakers President: 2019/20 & 22/23
Area L56 Director: 2022/23
Toastmasters honors and recognition:
Presentation Mastery pathway completion February 2021
Relevant work experience and how it relates to Toastmasters and your role as a District leader:
I am a civil engineer specialising in bridge design. I work on projects that involve different teams and collaborators, where we all need to work together to achieve the project goals. I am often responsible for the work of others and have to make sure my work and theirs achieves a sufficient standard.
Outside of work, I am currently mentoring a team of students to design and build a footbridge in Eswatini, in southern Africa. This is the third team I have mentored in the past four years.
What experience do you have in strategic planning?
In Toastmasters, I have prepared club success plans for Society Speakers. Last year, we were President’s Distinguished and I believe we are on track to match that this year. In my Bridges team at work, I am our Sustainability champion and responsible for setting the team’s strategy in this area and preparing a plan to follow, which I have done so for the past three years.
What experience do you have in the area of finance?
I am responsible, in part, for the management of resources of the projects I work on as a civil engineer and work towards achieving a target profit, whilst delivering our services on time and to the required level of quality.
What experience do you have in developing procedures?
I have revised and developed method statements and risk assessments as part of my work as a civil engineer. I also revised a health and safety checklist for my team to use on our projects to help identify any health and safety risks, allowing us to mitigate those risks.
What lessons did you learn from previous leadership positions?
I have learnt the benefit of planning further ahead in time and giving the clubs in my area more regular communication and communicate important dates further in advance to all the clubs to plan accordingly. I have also benefitted from growing my network within Toastmasters and that has helped me organise meetings and contests.
Why do you want to serve as a District leader?
This year, being an area director, has been a great opportunity for me to grow by helping to support the clubs in my area and meet new people. I believe that a big part of Toastmasters is to give back and I would like to do that in part by taking the next step, being a division director and support a team of area directors.
In your opinion, what are the District mission’s major objectives and how would you work to achieve them?
With the district mission being, “building new clubs and supporting all clubs in achieving excellence”, I think the main focus should be on making sure that this mission is communicated to all clubs in the district and that clubs feel empowered and have the support from the district to achieve excellence. It can be a challenge for clubs and members to understand the district’s role and what it can do for them, or even just raise awareness of what the district is and does. This means providing training that is useful and attractive to club officers and making communications to clubs and members clear.
Additional information about yourself: